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Author Archives: cardsbymo

Frighteningly Adorable Halloween

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It’s that time of year again. These next few weeks are leading up to the most wonderful time of the year…Halloween! And I have been crack-a-lackin to get my cards done early this year.

Most of the cards that I made this year featured digital images from Pink Cat Studios. Some of the images were only available in a package purchase that I made a few years ago but, Melissa has a ton of cute digis for sale and it is still worth a look at her site.

The first two cards feature Action Wobbles by Hampton Arts. Action Wobbles have a heavy duty sticker on the top and the bottom with a spring sandwiched in the middle. In the video below you can see how well these work. They really create a fun, interactive feature in your cards.

Pink Cat Studios, Betty and Bobby in a Pumpkin, Adorable Halloween

I have made a card almost identical to this one in the past. The werewolf in the foreground is a digital stamp from Whimsie Doodles. This one happens to be a freebie but, there are a lot more for sale as well. The haunted house is a stamp and the pathway is just doodled by hand. There is a Action Wobble underneath this guy as well.

Whimsy Doodles, Werewolf Halloween Card, Cute Werewolf, Action Wobbles Card

This is a Stampin Up stamp called Haunted Forest. Sadly, I don’t think it is available any longer. I colored it with Copic Markers and added some glitter stars just for fun.

Stamping up Halloween

This is another Pink Cat Studios cutie. I used an embossing folder to texturize the card and several other folders to add texture the the mounting paper that this little vampire is adhered to. If you look closely you will see that I cut out the night sky in such a way that the bat’s wings seem to be flying off of the page. The bat’s wings are also heavily coated in Ranger’s Glossy Accents which give them a 3 dimensional effect.

Bobby Rides a Bat, Pink Cat Studio Stamps, Halloween digital stamps

I kept these photos grouped together so that you could see the way I was able to alter the digital image to make it larger or smaller depending on what I wanted to do with it. And also so that you can see that the same image can be used but, made to quite different based on the other elements used along with it.

Pink Cat Studios, Halloween Digital Stamp, Adorable Witch Pink Cat Studios, Handmade Halloween Card, Copic coloring for cards Pink Cat Studios, Digital Stamps for Halloween, Halloween Digis, Copic coloring for Halloween

Below you can see that the  image  on the right is bigger than the one on the left. The ability to resize an image is one of the advantages of using digital image stamps. The other is advantage is that you can create a mirror image if for some reason you want the stamped character facing another direction. And of course the fact that your stored images only take up disc space and not desk space is nice too.

Pink Cat Studios, Witch Betty, Glossy Accents, Copic coloring technique

Happy Stamping,

Mo

2015, A Year in Review

A year has flown by without me making a single post. It has been a whirlwind of highs and lows. Here are a few highlights from 2015.

I got some projects done for the house.

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I bought a coffee table for $10 from a neighbor who was moving. My husband Jeff helped me sand it down to bare wood.

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I used two different kinds of stain. The light color is traditional stain and the dark color is a stain and poly in one. A couple of strips of painter’s tape was all it took to create the Surfboard stripes that I hoped to create.

And we finally hung some curtains on our sliding glass door. (Ikea Kvartal if your interested in knowing what the curtain/rail system is)

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My daughter finally got her driver’s license at the end of the summer and so I was able to quit my “chauffeur’s job”. She was chosen as  co-Drum Major for her band this year and I was glad not to have to pick her up 3 days a week, plus game nights.

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My son James and I built a headboard out of pallets and fence slats. Cutting pallets apart was a major pain in the *bleep* so you won’t be seeing anymore pallet projects from me anytime soon. 😉

Pallet Headboard DIY

We flew to DC for my Nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. It was a blast!

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Our daughter attended a Bassoon and Oboe band camp at USF. It was surreal to see her in a college dorm and think “just two more years and we will be empty nesters”.

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We attended my niece’s wedding and got goofy in the Photo Booth. And went to the Salvador Dali museum and got even goofier!

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Although I am not Jewish myself, I thought that I could make a New Year’s resolution at Rosh Hashanah to start blogging again. So far, so good.

Here are the cards I made for my niece and nephews for their Rosh Hashanah celebrations.

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I am finishing up my Halloween cards and I will post again next week. TTFN

Mo

A Sweet New Year!

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Some of my nieces and nephews are Jewish and so they celebrate the Jewish New Year in early fall each year. One of the traditions of this holiday is the use of apples and honey to symbolize a sweet new year. And so I like to feature them in the cards that I send to the kids.

Jewish New Year Card

The apple was created using the Create a Critter cartridge from Cricut. And the honey comb was made using hexagon die cuts. I filled the honeycomb with Glossy Accents and a little bit of gold glitter. The be is the last one I had from an embellishment sheet that I bought a few years ago.

Apple Teacher card

This apple was made with the Cricut too but, I used a scalloped punch to make it look like he had a bite taken out of his delicious self. The honeycomb on this card is a stamped image from Paper Smooches Geo Graphic stamp set and it is filled with Glossy Accents and glitter too.

Create a Critter Apples

Nearly this entire card is made using the Create A Critter cartridge. I heat embossed clear powder on the apples to give them a shiny skin. And I snuck a tree branch in from the Lawn Fawn: Critters Down Under stamp set too.

I used an Action Wobble spring under each of these apples to give the cards an element of fun! It is oddly pleasing to give these apples a little pluck and watch them wobble back and forth. 🙂

Happy Stamping,

Mo

Try to Fold a Trifold Shutter Card

The card I am featuring today is a trifold shutter card. You can find a great tutorial here on how to cut and fold this card. It really is a simple design once you see how it is done.

Yeti, Set, Go

I featured a lot of different stamp sets on this card but, the two adorable Yeti creatures are from Yeti, Set, Go by Lawn Fawn. And the balloons are from Up and Away by Mama Elephant Stamps.

Yeti, Set, Go

This Yeti is wearing a crown from the Hats Off to You, stamp set from Lawn Fawn and his friends are wearing party hats from the same set. And the birthday cake is actually a sticker rather than a stamp. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is a mixed media project but, I do think that incorporating stickers now and then can give your cards a little something different.

Trifold shutter card

I forgot to take a photo of the card when it is closed but, here is a look at the card when it is opened wide. Many people also add decorative paper to some of the panels. You know me and my less is more approach, so I just doodled some confetti and called it a day.

You really should give this card shape a try. It is just a matter of a couple of cuts and a couple of folds.

I am entering this card into the Lawnscaping Challenge: Critters Galore

LF challenge

Happy Stamping,

Mo

Age is just a Number

We had quite a few significant birthday’s in our family this year. So I created age specific cards with numeral die cuts from Papertrey Ink, for those special people.

Up first is the card I made for my niece, Jenna. She turned 21, so she got a card that represented the significance of that age here in the United States.

Beer Mug Card

In order to make the mug I simply rounded off the corners of some rectangles, sponged them with yellow distress ink and layered them over a grayish paper. The handle is just a circle die cut with a smaller circle cut out of the bottom.  By spattering the yellow papers with water before I adhered them to the gray paper I was able to create the look of bubbles. The foam is made from little cloud die cuts that are lightly sponged on the edges with yellow. The numeral dies come in a wide and narrow format. I used both to create the shadowed effect you see here.

My nephew Buddy (Geoff) is my birthday twin. He was born on the same days as I was born 19 years before him. He turned 25 this year. And I happen to think that being a quarter of a century old is pretty significant. But it is not a reason to feel old or passed the age of having some fun. So I made a card that was sort of fun and funky for Buddy.

25 birthday card

I used Hero Arts Neon Inks for this card. They are even brighter in person than they are in this photo. I created the number by sponging the ink inside of the stencil I created by die cutting the numbers. After I finished inking the numbers I outlined them by hand. And finally I covered them with some clear Stickles (glitter gel).

Another nephew of mine named, Joey turned 30 this year. And before you start thinking that I must be pretty old to have a nephew who is 30,  just bear in mind that he is only 14 years younger than me. I hadn’t even begun my freshman year of high school when he was born. But his turning 30 really did make me feel a little bit long in the tooth!

30th birthday card

This card features the wide and narrow dies too. And I have been really having fun with the glitter paper I purchased at my local JoAnn’s store.

Next up is my sister in law Jill’s card. Jill turned the big 40 this year! I wanted to create a classy and fun card rather than one that teased her about her age. (Especially because I’m even older than her)  Jill is a fun, yet classy kind of woman who deserves a glityz, feminine card.

40 and Fabulous

For this card I only used the narrow number dies and I placed a gold glittered paper beneath the negative space where the numbers were cut. I saved the interior of the 4 and the zero and I glued them onto the gold paper. On the very top of the pink and gold paper I added a clear sheet of plastic and two golden  enamel dots. The final addition of the plastic made the card appear very polished and professional. (In my opinion, anyway.)

And last, but certainly not least, is my brother in law Geoff who turned 75 this year. I come from a family of six siblings and my eldest sister  is married to Geoff. Theirs is a May/December romance which is a romantic way of saying that she married a man who is a couple of decades older than her. Geoff is the very first son in law to my parents and my first brother in law and I love him very much.

75 birthday card

I kept Geoff’s card very simple and elegant. The card base is dry embossing (embossing folder) with a wicker design. And I used a ivory and metallic gold paper underneath the numbers. Sometimes a really simple card can make a really big statement.

 

Happy Stamping,

Mo

 

 

 

When a Doodle is as Good as a Stamp

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I went to a friend’s house a few days ago to craft some cards together. Although I have fun crafting together, I find that I never get much done because I’m so busy chatting. However, I did get a card completed and I had fun with Kim and Linda.

I have been thinking about buying a stamp that features birch trees. There have even been a few birch tree stamps in various shopping baskets of mine online but, I just kept balking at the cost. So the other night I decided to see if I could doodle some instead. And the result was really pleasing. Plus I saved myself at least $10!

Stacy Yacula Studio stampsI doodled the trees and the banner as well as the presents, grass and dandelions. The adorable animal stamps are from A Sweet Summer set by Stacey Yacula Studio. You can find them here at Purple Onion Designs And all but the shading under the black on the birch tree bark, was colored with colored pencils and blended with baby oil.

Next time I would stamp the birds first and then draw the wire under them. It was hard to see because, they are red rubber and not clear acrylic stamps. But hopefully my niece won’t notice that the bird is not quite on the wire.

Happy Stamping Doodling,

Mo

 

 

Under the Sea Enchantment

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Just a quick post to show off a card I made using my Cricut. I have had the machine for 6 years or so but, I rarely use it. (like once or twice a year) I can be a bit of a technophobe at times and I can’t seem to get into using the machine as much as I use my metal die cuts.  So making an entire card with my Cricut is a really big accomplishment for me. LOL

Create A Critter by Cricut

image Close up view.

 

 

This card is for the granddaughter of a good friend and co-worker. She was having an Under the Sea themed first birthday party. These images are just a few of the different animals and accessories available from the Create a Critter cartridge.

The card stands up like a kickstand on a bike. And I just wrote my sentiment on the back, which sits on the table when the card is displayed.

Happy Stamping,

Mo

Harry Potter Miraculum Maximus (Surprise Party) Card

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My daughter’s good friend was hosting a Harry Potter themed birthday party a few weeks ago. So I set out to make a unique card featuring the adorable stamps from the Bugaboo Stamp series Har Repotter. These are digital stamps so you can make them as large or small as you want and you can arrange them as closely or far apart as you want. Digital stamps are so versatile because, of that.

Har Repotter Sneaky One

For the front of this oversized card I decided to feature Professor Snape monitoring the hallways of Hogwarts Castle. The floor, walls and torch are all hand doodled. The stones are colored using colored pencils and Baby Oil for blending. I didn’t want to waste too much of my Copic ink on the inexpensive paper.

Once I had completed the background for the corridor I glued on Snape, whom I had already colored and cut out. And I added the sentiment which I had simply printed out along with the digital stamps. (I use Word for all of my digital stamp projects. You don’t need any fancy imaging programs)

Bugaboo Har Repotter

For the inside of the card I created a Surprise Party scene on a simple Pop Up card base.  Each character is an individual stamp but, I grouped them together in my Word Doc before printing them out. This saved me lots of time and fussy cutting! The dragon and unicorn are part of the Critters Ever After stamp set from Lawn Fawn. The wall and clouds are hand doodled and the presents and cupcake are some stickers that I have had for eons.  And lastly the sentiments on the top are ink stamped.

I hope you are inspired by this card to try your hand at adding some doodles to your own work. It is a great way to stretch your artistic muscles without having to be all that talented. 🙂

Happy Stamping,

Mo

 

 

 

Falling Behind Since the Fourth of July

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I haven’t posted since May but, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been crafting. This summer just seemed to be flying by and I just kept procrastinating about blogging. But I am back! And I am finally going to post my cards from the Fourth of July.

As you may know by now I send out 10 cards for every major and minor holiday for my nieces, nephews and grand nieces and nephews. Below are the cards that I sent out. I made some duplicates and that is why I am only featuring 6 cards today.

 Aero Boy Deasy Design I used a digital stamp set from Deasy Design called Aero Boy for these first few cards. Additionally, I paired the little pilot with some fireworks that are part of a digital stamp from Stampin Up. The sentiment is handstamped and I hand doodled the diagonal stripes on the wings.

Aero Boy  Here is another image from the Aero Boy collection.  For both this card and the one above I added little star stamps to the boys shirt to make it even more patriotic.

Aero Boy Deasy Design This set of digital stamps from Deasy Design is so cute and it’s really a bargain. You get 15 or 16 individual digital stamps for only $7.50!  You can find these stamps here DeasyDesigns on Etsy.

 

Whimsie Doodles Stamps Whimsie Doodles Stamps Whimsie Doodles Stamps

I have a few nieces as well as nephews, so I made a few feminine cards as well. This card features a freebie from Whimsie Doodles called July4day. I colored each girls hair just a little differently to represent the niece to whom I was sending it. One of my nieces has the cutest curly hair so I doodled in some wavy locks.

 

Birthday Cheers for the Black and Red

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My brother-in-law, Jamie is an alumnus of the University of Georgia. And he really lives, eats and breathes Black and Red. So I wanted to give him a card that represented UGA without being overtly bulldogish.  And here is what I came up with.

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I used the Mighty Bloom- Coverplate die from Papertrey ink to create leaf burst red portion of the card. And I used the Hero Arts – Magical Background stamp for the heat embossed area on the black card. The bullseye medallion was made using four different circle punches and then layering the papers together. I topped it all off with a black enamel dot.

 

Here is a close up view of the heat embossing. I love adding heat embossed elements to my cards. It always seems to make them seem so much more professionally finished.

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I am going to enter this card into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Die Crazy  and the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – M (anything relating to M words) My take on the M challenge is that this is a Masculine card for my brother in law.

Happy Stamping,

Mo

Lime Doodle Design

Card Making Inspiration by Debby Hughes

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